Wrapping machine



April 15 1924. L49fi8 I J. SCHERNER ET AIL WRAPPING MACHINE al Filed Aril 5, 1916 s Sheets-Sheet 1 A ril 15, 1924. mswsa J. SCHIERNER ET ALWRAPPING MACHINE Original Filed April 3, 1916 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jig/WELLQEE April 15, 1924. 1,490,686

J. SCHIERNER ET AL WRAPPING MACHINE Original Filed April 1916 3Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN SCHERNER, OF CUDAI-IY, AND EDWARD HUTCHENS, OF EAU CLAIRE, WISCON-SIN, ASSIGNORS T PIERCE WRAPPING MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

WRAPPING MACHINE.

Original application filed April 3, 1916, Serial No. 88,563. Divided andthis application filed July 10, 1920.

1 Serial No. 395,846.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN SCHERNER, and EDWARD HUTCHENS, citizens of theUnited States, and residents of Cudahy, in 6 the county of Milwaukee andState of Wis- .consin, and the city of Eau Claire, in the county of EauClaire and State of Wisconsin, respectively, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Wrapping Ma chines; and we do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the numerals ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates particularly to wrappings for automobile tiresand the like and to machines for applying the wrapping, and is adivision of our application Serial 2 No. 88,563, which was filed in theUnited States Patent Oflice on April 3rd, 1916. Automobile tires, coilsof wire, strips of moulding, finished metal rods, and the like are oftenwrapped in paper or other fabric 2 for the purpose of transportation.The wrapping fabric is usually cut in the form of strips which arespirally wound about the article to completely cover it. It is diflicultto wrap the strip spirally and cause it to conform to the shape of thearticle. Moreover, when one of the convolutions of a spirally-woundwrapping strip is broken or damaged, as frequently happens, the wrapingtends to unwind from the article, eaving it uncovered. It is accordinglyimportant that a fabric strip be devised which will readily conform tothe shape of the article about which it is to be wrapped, and that meanshe provided for rapidly applying the fabric in a neat and eflicientmanner so that when one of the convolutions of the wrapping is brokenthe remainder of the wrapping will not be affected.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide an improvedfabric strip for wra ping.

It is a so an object of the invention to provide an improved fabricwrapping in such form that it will conform to the shape of the articleabout which it is to be wound.

Other and further important objects of the invention will be apparentfrom the disclosures in the specification and the accompanylng drawings.

The invention (in a preferred form) is shown on the drawings andhereinafter more fully described.

On the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wrapping machine embodying theinvention.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the maine. V

Figure 3 is a transverse section on the line of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the line H of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is, a sectional view of a portion of the shuttle of the machineshowing the mounting of the fabric strip and the means for mani ulatingthe edges of the strip for causing t e same to conform to the shape ofthe article.

"Figure 6 is a sectional view of a wrapped tire.

Figure 7 is an elevation of the tire wrapping showing the manner inwhich the edges thereof are crimped or creased.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary detail of the wrapping strip showing the edgecrimped.

Figure 9 is a transverse section of the crimped strip.

As shown on the drawings: a

The machine is provided with a frame 1, upon which is mounted'a drivingmotor 2. The driving shaft 3 has an annular gear 4 thereon, which drivesa transverse shaft 5 through a suitable train of gears 6 and 7, whichreduce the revolutions of the shaft 5 to the desired number. The uppergear wheel 4 is keyed or otherwise secured to the motor shaft, and thegear wheel 6 is mounted on a stub shaft 8, while the gear wheel 7 isloose on the transverse shaft 5 and is adapted to be locked to the sameby the clutch 9 of any desired construction, having a member slidablyinterlocked with the shaft and movable into and out of engagement withthe'gear wheel 7. When the clutch is moved into engagement with the gearwheel 7, the shaft 5 is connected withand is adapted to be driven by themotor 2. The transverse shaft which is located at the rear portion ofthe machine is journalled in suitable bearings of the supporting frameand it has fixed to it a roll 11, having a suitable friction facing andwhich is provided at opposite sides with flanges 2 and adapted to engageand rotate an annular shuttle 13. The transverse shaft 5 also carries aworm 14, which meshes with the worm wheel '15 keyed or otherwise'securedto one of a pair of longitudinal shafts 16 and 17 which aresimultaneously rotated in the same direction and which are connected bysprocket gearing located at the rear end 0 the longitudinal shafts 16and 17, and consisting of a sprocket chain 18 and sprocket wheels 19fixed to the rear end of the shafts 16 and 17 and receiving and meshingwith the said sprocket chain 18.

The shuttle 13, which is constructed of aluminum or other suitablematerial. is supported in position for rotary movement by the frictionroller 11 and upper and lower front flange rollers 20 and 21, which aremounted on suitable sub-shafts located at one side of the machine, theother side being open. The annular shuttle is provided with a hingedsection 22 pivoted at 23 and constituting a door for enabling theannular shuttle to be readily placed around a tire 23 or other annulararticle, or to permit the tire 23 or other article to be readily placedin and removed from the machine through said hinged section or door. Thehinged section or door is locked in its closed position by a springactuatedpin or bolt 24 slidably mounted on a hinge section 22 at thefree end thereof, and movable into and out of engagement with theadjacent end of the body portion of the shuttle and maintained normallyin such engagement by coil spring 25. The latch is also equipped with anoperating lever 26 pivoted at an intermediate point and having one ofits arms constituting a handle and its other arm connected with andadapted to move the pin or bolt 24 rearwardly against the action of thespring 25 to open the hinged door or section 22. The hinged door orsection, when opened, enables the shuttle to be readily disengaged bythe upper and lower flanged rollers and the friction roller 11 to permitthe removal of the shuttle for filling the same with adhesive material.

The interior of the shuttle.13 is hollow except for the gate 22 andforms a recepta cle for liquid adhesive material, such as liquid glue orthe like. A suitable filling opening 27 is provided which is normallyclosed by a plug or stop. As the shuttle rotates the adhesive materialis thrown outwardly by centrifugal force and caused to pass through anopening and be applied to a fabric strip in a manner hereinafterdescribed. The shuttle 3, as shown in Figure 1, rotates in a clockwisedirection and the opening through which the adhesive material passes tobe applied to the strip is located at the rear end of the hollowinterior of the receptacle so that the rotation of theshuttle tends tocause the adhesive materialto collect at the end of the shuttle in whichthe opening is located.

The tire or other article is supported and fed to the wrapping mechanismhereinafter described by the front portions of the longitudinal shafts16 and 17, which are journalled in suitable bearings of the supportingframe of the machine. The front portions 28 and 29 are reduced and thetire or other article is supported and fed by the reduced portions. Thereduced portion 28 is located in advance of the strip or ribbon 30 ofwrapping material and in wrapping a tire the tire is engaged at the headby opposite squeezing rolls 31 and 32 set at an angle or inclination andadapted to engage and interlock with the tire at the base portionthereof for maintaining the tire in a compact condition while the tireis being wrapped. The rear squeezing roller 31 is permanently mounted onone of the bearings of the longitudinal shaft 16, and the other roller32 is mounted on a pivot 33, which is carried by slidable'sleeves 34preferably mounted on the shaft 16 at the reduced portion thereof andmaintained in engagement with the tire by a coiled spring 35 interposedbetween and whose ends are engaged in the sleeve and the front bearing36 of the reduced portion 28, andthi sleeve 34 for urging the front orouter squeezing roller 32 inwardly or rearwardly. By this means thesqueezing roller 32 is maintained in engagement with the tire and isalso held against rotary movement on the reduced portion 28 of the shaft16.

The fabric strip, which may be paper, cloth, or any suitable material,is carried by a spool 39 that is arranged on a rotary spool holder 37mounted on a horizontal stud or spindle 38. The inner end 40 of thespindle is threaded and tapped into the rotary shuttle. The spool isretained on the spool holder by a removable collar 41, and a lockingwasher 42, but any suitable device may, of course. be employed as willbe readily understood.

The ribbon of wrapping material is led from the spool over a horizontalfeed tube 43 constituting a guide for the wrapping material and providedat its outer end with a head or flange 44, having its inner end 45threaded and tapped into the rotary shuttle. The inner portion of thetubular guide 43 is provided with an outlet perforation 46, and thepaper or cloth ribbon or strip is held against the perforation ordischarge orifice by a spring 47, which is also adapted to constitute aclosure or valve for the discharge orifice in event of breakage of thewrapping ribbon so that the glue or other adhesive material will notleak or waste.

The diameter of the feed tube 43 is reduced gradually for a part of itslength near the outer end, being smallest at the base of the collar 44.A roller 70 conforming to the shape of the reduced portion is rotatablymounted on the shaft 71 and is held yieldably against said reducedportion and with its axis in the same vertical plane by the spring 72.

As the tape 30 is fed to the article or tire to be wrapped, the roller70 co-acting with said portion provides a continuous series of crimps oraccordion pleats 81, which, as the strip is appiled to the article, areadapted to automatically fold or adjust themselves to cause a flatwinding of .the strip on the article and prevents buckling or otherdeformations thereof as the wrapping is applied to the article, andsubsequent to its application.

When the clutch is thrown intov operation, the shuttle is caused torevolve and the tire or other article is fed to the same at right anglesthereto and the paper thus traveling around the tire or other articlewraps the same spirally as it unwinds from the roll. As the edge of thepaper or other material travels over the discharge aperture, centrifugalforce acting on the glue or other adhesive material in the shuttlethrows the glue against the edge of the paper and the ribbon of wrappingmaterial is cemented or glued where it overlaps the paper beneath it.The bands of the wrapper are thus cemented or glued together, making itpracticallya one-piece Wrapper, and due to the improved pleating of thewrapper as it is being applied this one-piece wrapper engages thearticle to be wrapped smoothly and evenly.

In order to enable the glue or other adhesive material to flow freelythrough the discharge aperture under the influence of centrifugal force,the shuttle is provided with a vent aperture 48, which is closed byneedle valve 49 when the shuttle is stationarv. of a substantiallyL-shaped lever, is pivoted intermediate of its ends at 50 in a suitablebracket or support 'and its front portion is provided with the valveproper, while its rear portion is equipped with a weight 52 adapted whenthe shuttle is revolved to move outwardly through cen- The needle valve,which is in the formtrifugal force and open the valve and permit air toenter the shuttle through the vent opening. As soon as the shuttle stopsthe valve is automatically closed by a spring 53, which is secured atone end to the weight. and has its other end bearing against the shuttleas clearly shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. The weight is adjustableon the lever to secure the desired action' of the spring and the weight.A cord or wire 54 is spread under the wrapper from an overhead spool 55journalled in suitable hearings on the standard 56 of the supportingframe, but any suitable supporting means may of course be employed formounting the spool. of twine, wire or cord. The cord, wire or twine isbent downwardly from the spool and passes over a guide pulley 57 and isfed to the tire or other article preferably centrally of the tread asillustrated in Figure 1. posed between the tire or other article and thewrapper and is adapted to be pulled to The cord is intercut the wrapperand remove the same from the tire or other article. When the clutch isthrown out of operation by the means hereinafter described, the shuttleis engaged by the brake lever 58, fulcrumed at one end at 59 andprovided with an engaging portion or shoe 60 and having a rearwardlyextending arm, which is connected by rod or link61, with an arm 62 of arod shaft 63, having a pedal 64 mounted on it and also provided with anarm 65, which is connected by link or rod 67 with a clutch shiftinglever 68. Said lever 68 is fulcrumed intermediate its ends at 69 and itsupper end is connected with the clutch. When the clutch is thrown intoengagement and the brake lever is moved out of en agement with theshuttle, and when the c utch is moved out of its engaging position, thebrake is applied to the shuttle to stop the latter.

While we have herein shown and described a tire wrapping machineequipped with means whereby the crimped or pleated Wrapping of thisinvention may be applied, it is to be understood that the crim ing orpleating device may be'convenient y used on any tire wrapping machineand that the crimped wrapping provided thereby is adapted to be used forwrapping any annular articles.

We are aware that numerous details may be varied through a wide rangewithout departing from the principles of this invention, and wetherefore do not purpose limiting the patent granted otherwise thannecessitated by the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. A method of wrapping an annular article such as an automobile tire orthe like which consists in winding a' strip of fabric about the article,crimping the edge of said strip as it is being wound to cause it toconform to the shape of the article and applying an adhesive to saidstrip to unite the convolutions of the winding.

2. A method of wrapping an annular article such as an automobile tire orthe like,

which consists in winding a strip of material about the article andcrimpin the edgeof said strip as it is being woun to cause it to conformto the shape of the article.

